Method and apparatus for contextual search and query refinement on consumer electronics devices

ABSTRACT

A method and a system for searching for information using an electronic device, such as a consumer electronic device, that can be connected to a network. Such searching for information involves determining a context for a search for information, forming a search query based on the context of search for information, and performing a contextual search based on the search query. Performing the contextual search further includes performing a query refinement.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to contextual searches, and in particular, to search and query refinement on consumer electronic (CE) devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The Internet (Web) has become a major source of information on virtually every conceivable topic. The easy accessibility of such vast amounts of information is unprecedented. In the past, someone seeking even the most basic information related to a topic was required to refer to a book or visit a library, spending many hours without a guarantee of success. However, with the advent of computers and the Internet, an individual can obtain virtually any information within a few clicks of a keyboard.

A consumer electronic (CE) device can be enriched by enabling the device to seamlessly obtain related information from the Internet, while the user enjoys the content available at home. However, at times, finding the right piece of information from the Internet can be difficult. The complexity of natural language, with characteristics such as polysemy, makes retrieving the proper information a non-trivial task. The same word, when used in different contexts can imply completely different meanings. For example, the word “sting” may mean bee sting when used in entomology, an undercover operation in a spy novel or the name of an artist when used in musical context. In the absence of any information about the context, it is difficult to obtain the proper results.

The traditional searching approach on a personal computer (PC) has been for a user to form an initial query and then iteratively refine the query depending upon the kind of results obtained based on the initial query. There are several problems with applying the PC approach to a CE device. First, a CE device would require a keyboard for a user to repeatedly enter queries/refinements to find the proper results. Further, searching is an involving process requiring some amount of cognitive load. A consumer using a CE device to listen to her favorite music may not be inclined to find relevant information from the Internet if it requires more effort than pushing a few buttons.

Further, querying a search engine not only requires entering keywords using a keyboard, but as noted, typically several iterations of refinement are required before the desired results are obtained. On a typical CE device without a keyboard, this is difficult to achieve. Forming a good query requires the user to have at least some knowledge about the context of the information desired, as well as the ability to translate that knowledge into appropriate search words. Even if the user has the skills required to form a good query and the means to enter the query, she may not be inclined to do so while using a CE device for entertainment. There is, therefore, a need for a method and system that provides contextual search and query refinement for CE devices.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method and a system for searching for information using an electronic device, such as a CE device, that can be connected to a network. Such searching for information involves determining a context for a search for information, forming a search query based on the context of search for information, and performing a contextual search based on the search query. Performing the contextual search further includes performing a query refinement.

The network includes a local network including CE devices, and an external network such as the Internet, wherein the search is directed to information in the external network. Determining the context further includes determining the context based on the content in the network, wherein searching further includes filtering the search results based on said context.

Determining the context further includes using metadata related to the content in the local network to determine the context for search query formation. Determining said context can further include using metadata related to the content in the network and current application states in the local network, to determine the context for query formation and result filtering.

Determining said context can further include gathering metadata about available content in the network. When the network includes a local network and an external network, the step of gathering metadata further includes gathering metadata about available content in the local network.

In addition, the step of determining said context can further include determining the context using metadata related to: available content in the local network, current application states in the local network and additional contextual terms derived from the external network.

As such, the present invention provides contextual search and query refinement for CE devices. The cognitive load of query formation is relegated to the device itself, freeing the user to simply enjoy the content. Knowing the context of the search query, the device then uses that context for query formation, as well as result filtering on behalf of the user.

These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become understood with reference to the following description, appended claims and accompanying figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an example of a network implementing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an example contextual search and query refinement method for CE devices, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows an example functional block diagram of a system implementing a contextual search and query refinement method, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a local taxonomy of metadata, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides contextual search and query refinement for CE devices, wherein a cognitive load of query formation is relegated to the device itself, freeing the user to simply enjoy the content. The device then uses that context for query formation, as well as result filtering on behalf of the user.

In one example implementation involving a local area network, metadata related to local content and current application states are gathered. The application states include user application states such as the current device(s) activity, for example, playing a music CD, playing a DVD, etc. The gathered data is then used to obtain the context for query formation and result filtering, essentially without user intervention. In this example, the user application states, the local context, and optionally, additional contextual terms derived from external sources (e.g., the external network), are utilized to form an appropriate query. The query is submitted to a search engine and the results are presented to a user. Preferably, contextual information is used to refine the search results returned by the search engine so that the search results are more likely to satisfy the user request.

FIG. 1 shows a functional architecture of an example network 10, such as a local network (e.g., a home network) embodying aspects of the present invention. The network 10 comprises devices 20 which may include content, CE devices 30 (e.g., a cell phone, PDA, MP3 player, TV, VCR, STB, etc.) which may include content, and an interface device 40 that connects the network 10 to an external network 50 (e.g., another local network, the Internet, etc.). Though the devices 20 and 30 are shown separately, a single physical device can include one or more logical devices.

The devices 20 and 30, respectively, can implement the UPnP protocol for communication therebetween. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention is useful with other network communication protocols such as JINI, HAVi, 1394, etc. The network 10 can comprise a wireless network, a wired network, or a combination thereof.

Referring to the flowchart in FIG. 2, each of the devices 20 and 30 can implement an example contextual search and query refinement process 200 according to the present invention, which includes the steps of:

-   -   Step 202: Extracting contextual information indicating current         user activity from application states in the local network.     -   Step 204: Extracting contextual information about the content in         the local network, from metadata sources in the local network.     -   Step 206: Extracting contextual information about the content in         the local network, from metadata sources in an external network.     -   Step 208: Deriving additional contextual information from the         extracted contextual information.     -   Step 210: Extracting additional contextual information about the         content in the local network from results obtained from the         external network.     -   Step 212: Forming an appropriate query based on the obtained         contextual information, and performing a search based on the         query.     -   Step 214: Using the contextual information to guide the         selection of desired content from the search results.

In one example, step 204 described above for extracting contextual information, includes the further steps of:

-   -   (a) Extracting contextual information from one or more of the         following sources:         -   (i) The user's current activity indicated by the states of             applications running on devices in the local network (e.g.,             the user is playing media in a CD player, wherein the type             of content being played is “music”); and         -   (ii) Metadata about the content available in the local             network, from one of the following sources:             -   (1) The metadata sources in the local network (e.g., ID3                 tags from a local MP3 player);             -   (2) The metadata sources over the external network                 (e.g., the album, the artist etc., information from a                 Compact Disc Database (CDDB));             -   (3) The metadata embedded in available content (e.g.,                 closed captions), etc.; and     -   (b) Deriving additional contextual information from the obtained         contextual information. In one example, given a current activity         that is “playing music title: Brand New Day by artist: Sting,”         it is deduced that Sting may have a “biography” and “Brand New         Day” may have “lyrics.”

In addition, in step 214 using the obtained contextual information to guide the selection of the most relevant content from the search results can further include forming an appropriate query from the obtained (extracted) contextual information, by:

-   -   (a) Using a subset of terms from the obtained contextual         information to form a query. For example, “music artist Sting         biography age debut.”     -   (b) Using the obtained contextual information to guide the         selection of the most relevant content from the search results.         For example, while searching for “Sting discography,” search         results that do not contain the album “Brand New Day” are         ignored because from the local content, it is known that one of         the albums by Sting is called “Brand New Day.”

FIG. 3 shows a functional block diagram of an example system 300 implementing such a contextual search and query refinement process, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system 300 shows specific components that derive and use contextual information to form a query and to filter the search results for presentation to a user, as described.

The system 300 utilizes the following components: Broadcast Unstructured Data Sources 301, a Local Contextual Information Gatherer 302, a Local Metadata Cache 303, a Contextual Information Deriver 304, a Correlation Framework 305, a Broadcast Data Extractor and Analyzer 306, Local Content Sources 307, Document Theme Extractor 308, Application States 309, a client User Interface (UI) 310, a Query Execution Planner 312, a Correlation Plan Executor 314, a Correlation Constructor 316, an Internet Metadata Gatherer from Structured Sources 318, Internet Structured Data Sources 320, a query 322, a Search Engine Interface 324, Web Pages 326, a Snippet Analyzer 328, and Internet Unstructured Data Sources 330. The function of each component is further described below.

The Broadcast Unstructured Data Sources 301 comprises unstructured data embedded in media streams. Examples of such data sources include cable receivers, satellite receivers, TV antennas, radio antennas, etc.

The Local Contextual Information Gatherer (LCIG) 302 collects metadata and other contextual information about the contents in the local network. The LCIG 302 also derives additional contextual information from existing contextual information. The LCIG 302 further performs one or more of the following functions: (1) gathering metadata from local sources whenever new content is added to the local content/collection, (2) gathering information about a user's current activity from the states of applications running on the local network devices (e.g., devices 20, 30 in FIG. 1), and (3) accepting metadata and/or contextual information extracted from Internet sources and other external sources that describe the local content.

The LCIG 302 includes a Contextual Information Deriver (CID) 304 which derives new contextual information from existing information. For this purpose, the CID 304 uses a local taxonomy of metadata related concepts. An example partial taxonomy 400 is shown in FIG. 4. Each edge 402 (solid connector line) connects a pair of concepts 404 (solid ellipses). An edge 408 between a pair of concepts 404 represents a HAS-A relationship between that pair of concepts 404. Each edge 408 (dotted connector line) connects a concept 404 and a synonym 406 (dotted ellipse), and represents a IS-A relationship therebetween. As such, each edge 408 connects a concept 404 with its synonym 406.

In one example where the current information need is about a music artist, the CID 304 uses the taxonomy 400 to determine “biography” and “discography” as derived contextual terms. The CID 304 also knows that “age” and “debut” are relevant concepts in an artist's biography.

Referring back to FIG. 3, the LCIG 302 further maintains a local metadata cache 303, and stores the collected metadata in the cache 303. The cache 303 provides an interface for other system components to add, delete, access, and modify the metadata in the cache 303. For example, the cache 303 provides an interface for the CID 304, Local Content Sources 307, Internet Metadata Gatherer from Structured Sources 318, Broadcast Data Extractor and Analyzer 306, Document Theme Extractor 308 and Snippet Analyzer 328, etc., for extracting metadata from local or external sources.

The Broadcast Data Extractor and Analyzer (BDEA) 306 receives contextual information from the Correlation Framework (CF) 305 described further below, and uses that information to guide the extraction of a list of terms from data embedded in the broadcast content. The BDEA 306 then returns the list of terms back to the CF 305.

The Local Content Sources 307 includes information about the digital content stored in the local network (e.g., on CD's, DVD's, tapes, internal hard disks, removable storage devices, etc.).

The Document Theme Extractor (DTE) 308 receives contextual information from the CF 305 as input and performs one or more of the following operations guided by the contextual information: (1) extracting and selecting a list of terms that best summarize the themes of documents returned as search results by the Search Engine Interface 324, and returning the list to the CF 305, and (2) clustering the documents returned as search results, extracting and selecting therefrom a list of terms that best summarize the themes of each cluster, and returning the list to the CF 305. The DTE 308 decides among one or more of these operations based on current user requirements. For example, if only the top (most important) keywords from a set of documents are needed, then operation 1 above is utilized. If there is a need to cluster the documents returned and then find the most important (representative) keywords from each cluster, then operation 2 above is utilized.

The Local Application States 309 includes information about the current user activity using one or more devices 20 or 30 (e.g., the user is listening to music using a DTV).

The client UI 310 provides an interface for user interaction with the system 300. The UI 310 maps user interface functions to a small number of keys, receives user input from the selected keys and passes the input to the CF 305 in a pre-defined form. Further, the UI 310 displays the results from the CF 305 when instructed by the CF 305. An implementation of the UI 310 includes a module that receives signals from a remote control, and a web browser that overlays on a TV screen.

The Query Execution Planner (QEP) 312 provides a plan that carries out a user request to perform a task such as a search. The Correlation Plan Executor (CPE) 314 executes the plan by orchestrating components in the system 300 and correlating the results from the components to deliver better results to the user. For example, the CPE 314 performs a “task” by orchestrating all the components and devices required for performing the task.

The Correlation Constructor 316 cooperates with the QEP 312 to form a plan by correlating data gathered from external sources with the data gathered from the local network. The Correlation Constructor 316 can also form the plan automatically using the correlation.

The Metadata Gatherer from Structured Sources 318 gathers metadata about local content from the Internet Structured Data Sources 320. The Internet Structured Data Sources 320 includes data with semantics that are closely defined. Examples of such sources include Internet servers that host XML data enclosed by semantic-defining tags, Internet database servers such as CDDB, etc.

The query 322 is a type of encapsulation of the information desired, and is searched for, such as on the Internet. The query 322 is formed by the CF 305 from the information and metadata gathered from the local and/or external network.

The Search Engine Interface (SEI) 324 inputs a query 322 and transmits it to one or more search engines over the Internet, using a pre-defined Internet communication protocol such as HTTP. The SEI 324 also receives the response to the query from said search engines, and passes the response (i.e., search results) to a component or device that issued the query.

The Internet Unstructured Data Sources 330 includes data or data segments with semantics that cannot be analyzed (e.g., free text). Internet servers that host web pages typically contain this type of data.

The web pages 326 include web pages on the Internet that are returned in the search results. In one example, when a query is sent to a search engine, the search engine returns a list of URLs that are relevant to that query. For each relevant URL, most search engines also return a small piece of text such as a snippet, from a corresponding web page. The main purpose of the snippets is to provide the user a brief overview of what the web page is about. The snippet is either from the web page itself, or taken from the meta tags of the web page. Different search engines have different techniques for generating these snippets.

The Snippet Analyzer 328 inputs the search results and a query from the CF 305. The Snippet Analyzer 328 then analyzes snippets from the search results and extracts from the snippets terms that are relevant to the query. The extracted terms are provided to the CF 305.

The CF 305 orchestrates contextual query formation, contextual search and refinement by:

-   -   (a) Providing contextual information to appropriate components         in the system 300 (i.e., one or more of the components 302, 306,         310, 324, 328, 308, 318) for query formation, query plan         formation, plan execution or examining search results.     -   (b) Receiving a list of terms from components that retrieve         related information from the Internet (i.e., one or more of         components 308, 328, 324). Then, making the following decisions:         -   (i) Whether the terms in the list should be further refined;         -   (ii) Whether any of the terms in the list carry contextual             information;         -   (iii) Whether and how a new query should be formed using the             contextual information and the existing query; and         -   (iv) Whether any of the contextual information should be             used as context for a query.     -   (c) If new contextual terms are found from a list of terms, then         using all or some of the terms in task formation, and optionally         providing the terms to the LCIG 302 to store for later use.     -   (d) If a new query should be formed, then constructing the query         according to the decision made and executing the new query.     -   (e) If some of the contextual information should be used as         context for a query, then using such information according to a         pre-determined format, and executing the query.     -   (f) If a list of terms returned by a component needs to be         further refined, then further refining the list of terms using         the contextual information.

As such, a CE device 20 or 30 (FIG. 1) configured based on the process 200 and the system 300 can form a query and perform a search using contextual information about a user's activity, local network content, and the metadata about such content. The user is not required to be involved in this process. Further, users need not be skilled in query formation to obtain relevant results such as from the Internet. Such a configured CE device uses contextual information to select among the relevant results returned in response to the query.

As is known to those skilled in the art, the aforementioned example architectures described above, according to the present invention, can be implemented in many ways, such as program instructions for execution by a processor, as logic circuits, as an application specific integrated circuit, as firmware, etc.

The present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred versions thereof; however, other versions are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained herein. 

1. A method of searching for information using an electronic device that can be connected to a network, comprising the steps of: determining a context for a search for information; forming a search query based on the context of search for information; and performing a contextual search based on the search query.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of performing the contextual search further includes performing a query refinement.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the device comprises a consumer electronics device.
 4. The method of claim 2 wherein the network includes a local network including consumer electronic devices.
 5. The method of claim 2 wherein the network further includes an external network, such that the search is directed to information in the external network.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of determining the context further includes determining the context based on the content in the network.
 7. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of performing the search further includes filtering the search results based on said context.
 8. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of determining the context further includes using metadata related to the content in the local network to determine the context for search query formation.
 9. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of determining said context further includes using metadata related to the content in the network and current application states in the local network, to determine the context for query formation and result filtering.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining said context further includes gathering metadata about available content in the network.
 11. The method of claim 10 wherein: the network includes a local network and an external network; and the step of gathering metadata further includes gathering metadata about available content in the local network.
 12. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of determining said context further includes determining the context using metadata related to: available content in the local network, current application states in the local network and additional contextual terms derived from the external network.
 13. The method of claim 1 wherein the network includes: a local network comprising a home network including interconnected CE devices; and an external network, such that the search is directed to information in the external network.
 14. A query system for performing a search for information from an electronic device that can be connected to a network, comprising: a context extractor that is configured to determine a context for a search for information, by extracting contextual information from at least the network; a query formation module that is configured to form a query based on the context of the search query; and a search module that is configured to cause a contextual search based on the search query.
 15. The system of claim 14 wherein the context extractor is configured to further extract contextual information indicating current user activity from user application states in the network.
 16. The system of claim 14 wherein the context extractor is configured to further extract contextual information about available content in the network using metadata sources in the network.
 17. The system of claim 16 wherein the network includes a local network and an external network, wherein the context extractor is configured to extract contextual information about available content in the local network using metadata sources in the local network.
 18. The system of claim 17 wherein the network includes a local network and an external network, wherein the context extractor is configured to extract contextual information about available content in the local network using metadata sources in the external network.
 19. The system of claim 18 wherein: the search module is configured to perform a contextual search for information in the external network based on the search query; and the context extractor is further configured to determine a further search context by extracting additional contextual information about available content in the local network, based on search results obtained from the external network.
 20. The system of claim 19 wherein the query formation module is further configured to form another query based on the further search context, for searching by the search module.
 21. The system of claim 18 wherein the search module is further configured to use the contextual information to guide selection of desired content from search results for a user.
 22. The system of claim 14 wherein the context extractor is configured to further derive additional contextual information from the extracted contextual information for query formation by the query formation module.
 23. The system of claim 17 wherein the local network comprises a network of interconnected devices including CE devices.
 24. The system of claim 23 wherein the local network comprises a home network including interconnected wired and wireless CE devices.
 25. The system of claim 17 wherein the external network comprises the Internet.
 26. A consumer electronic device that can be connected to a network, comprising: a context extractor that is configured to determine a context for a search for information, by extracting contextual information from at least the network; a query formation module that is configured to form a query based on the context of the search query; a search module that is configured to cause a contextual search based on the search query; and a user interface module for user interaction.
 27. The device of claim 26 wherein the context extractor is configured to further extract contextual information about available content in the network using metadata sources in the network.
 28. The device of claim 27, wherein: the network includes a local network and an external network; and the context extractor extracts contextual information about available contents in the local network using one or more of: metadata sources in the local network and metadata sources in the external network.
 29. The device of claim 28 wherein: the search module is configured to perform a contextual search for information in the external network based on the search query; and the context extractor is further configured to determine a further search context by extracting additional contextual information about available content in the local network, based on search results obtained from the external network.
 30. The device of claim 29 wherein the query formation module is further configured to form another query based on the further search context, for searching by the search module.
 31. The device of claim 29 wherein the search module is further configured to use the contextual information to guide selection of desired content from search results for a user.
 32. The device of claim 26 wherein the context extractor is configured to further derive additional contextual information from the extracted contextual information for query formation by the query formation module.
 33. The device of claim 26 wherein the context extractor is further configured to extract contextual information indicating current user activity from user application states in the network.
 34. The device of claim 33 wherein the query formation module is configured to form a query based on said contextual information that indicates current user activity from user application states in the network.
 35. The device of claim 28 wherein the local network comprises a network of interconnected devices includes CE devices.
 36. The device of claim 35 wherein the local network comprises a home network including interconnected wired and wireless CE devices.
 37. The device of claim 28 wherein the external network comprises the Internet.
 38. The device of claim 26 wherein the user interface module is further configured to display the search results on a monitor.
 39. The device of 38 wherein the user interface module is further configured to receive user input from the user for performing a task in the network.
 40. The device of claim 39 further comprising a planner that is configured to form a plan for execution of the task. 